“Rape Is Rape”: Joe Biden Channels Ms. Magazine Cover

Last night in a speech at the University of New Hampshire, Vice President Joe Biden affirmed what feminists have known for decades: “Rape is rape is rape.”

Here at Ms., we couldn’t agree more. As a matter of fact, that sentiment is smack dab on the front of our newest cover, which has just rolled off the presses. (It’s as if Vice President Biden saw a copy!)

Biden is getting this message out to students as part of his much-needed new federal initiative to prevent sexual violence on campuses. In an impassioned speech, he recounted the harrowing story of a young woman who reported a rape in her freshman year, only to be quizzed by campus police on what she was wearing and how she was dancing. Because she had been drinking, her case was dismissed.

In fact, being drunk at the time doesn’t mean you weren’t raped; quite the opposite. Alcohol often plays a role [PDF] in rapes, incapacitating women so they are unable to give consent.

Yet this woman’s experience with her university is a disturbingly common story. And that’s why the “rape is rape” message needs to reach campus police and college administrators. But it also needs to reach a much broader audience–and that’s why we put it in a big, bold font on the cover of the new Ms.!

Inside the issue, in an exclusive new investigation, Ms. reveals why rape isn’t always counted as rape by the FBI and local police departments. In fact, the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR) only counts “forcible” rapes in its annual tally–and that excludes a majority of rapes, including those similar to the one described by Vice President Biden.

Comments

I’ve never been prouder of a sitting Vice President. “No means no, if you’re drunk or you’re sober. No means no if you’re in bed, in a dorm, or on the street. No means no even if you said yes at first and you changed your mind. … it’s never, never, never, never, never okay to touch her without her consent. This doesn’t make you a man, it makes you a coward. A flat-out coward.”

So, if John went out with a gun in his pocket (one that was legal to carry concealed), and went to a party, got upset at some drunk dude who, for whatever reason, had a bullseye taped to his chest…and John shoots him and he dies. Well…it was that own guy's fault for being drunk and wearing a bullseye, right? He asked for it! He was drunk! Look what he was wearing! John: You're dismissed. **sarcasm**